Inside TorontoThe Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) is bringing back the lure of seeing new futuristic inventions with the launch of the Emerging Innovators Pitch Competition.
Twenty-five young innovators ages 18 to 35 from universities and colleges across Ontario will compete in five different categories for a chance to win $5,000 and qualify for the finals with a grand prize of $25,000.
"Hopefully that money will help those folks get to the next stage," said CNE general manager, Virginia Ludy.READ MORE

Smithsonian MagazineWhen her high school in Grosse Ile, MI, started a co-ed robotics team dubbed The Wired Devils, Maya Pandya thought she'd give it a try. The 17-year-old already excelled in math and science, and had considered going into engineering as a career. But while the team was part of a larger initiative meant to "inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology," her first interactions with other team members left her frustrated.
"When I first walked in, the guys on the team acted like I didn't really want to do engineering," says Maya. "It felt like they assumed things automatically. Once I pushed people out of that mindset, they accepted me and started listening to my ideas."
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CBC NewsImperial pilots in TIE Fighters aren't the only flying pests that can be defeated by lasers — a UVic project team hopes the geese terrorizing farmers' fields on Vancouver Island can be beaten the same way.
Peter Rashleigh and five other fourth-year mechanical engineering students have developed a system that automatically shines low-power laser light on fields to scare off geese at night.
Rashleigh, a farmer himself, calls it a "high-tech scarecrow."READ MORE

Globe and MailVirtual reality has been creating a buzz in the architecture and design world for a while now. The idea of being able to build, manipulate, share and explore a to-scale virtual creation makes a lot of sense. But it has one downfall: Virtual reality excludes reality and architecture has to ultimately work in the real world.
Enter mixed reality; a merger between real and virtual worlds similar to that which is currently taking the world by storm in the form of the popular mobile game Pokemon Go.READ MORE

The Sudbury StarNoront Resources president and chief executive officer Alan Coutts is a man of great faith, at least when it comes to mining. His company recently strengthened its commitment to developing the Ring of Fire with another acquisition.
Noront announced it had signed an agreement with MacDonald Mines Exploration to acquire 75 per cent of its claims in the Ring of Fire district.
Now Coutts is waiting to see if the Government of Ontario has a similar strong belief in the potential of the rich chromite, nickel, zinc and copper deposits. READ MORE

CBC NewsA Haida Gwaii company has developed a technology that may one day provide power to parts of Haida Gwaii by harnessing the energy from tides.
Right now, the northern half of Haida Gwaii uses diesel to provide power to all homes and buildings.
It's an expensive power source and contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.
Clyde Greenough, business manager of Yourbrook Energy, said his company has developed a generator that is powered solely by the ocean's tide.READ MORE

JalopnikCadillac is also bringing some real fancy stuff to Pebble Beach this year, but all they've thrown us in the meantime is a short preview of a high-tech interior and a promise that it will see duty on future cars. What are they up to?READ MORE

GreenBizFrom shipping containers-turned-micro farms to fruit-picking robots, the wide world of agriculture tech is attracting attention and investor dollars as increasingly urgent concerns about food scarcity come into focus.
Amid a wave of in-field technology, food data analytics and experimental urban agriculture, the particularly futuristic field of vertical farming is attracting entrants including industrial incumbents such as Fujitsu and upstarts such as AeroFarms, City Farm and Green Sense.READ MORE